Citing revenue declines, Airbnb cuts 25% of workforce • Hacker News Board

Re: Citing revenue declines, Airbnb cuts 25% of workforce

#501

Post by ryneandal » Tue, May 05, 2020, 11:25 PM UTC

ksj2114 wrote: post #312

ryneandal wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the company said that 1,900 employees will be laid off, or 25.3% of its 7,500 workers Thought I misread that the first time through. What did those 7,500 do?

I published an article on this actually: https://blog.acrossapp.com/what-do-all-those-tech-employees-...

Thanks for offering a legitimate response to a legitimate question. After finishing up work and looking for answers, I found (provided it is accurately sourced) this article [1] outlining targeted departments of the company I hadn't even heard of before, even though I've used the service extensively for recreation.

Obviously diversification occurs with these large companies, I just hadn't realized how much they had branched out.

1: https://outline.com/grS7fY

Re: Citing revenue declines, Airbnb cuts 25% of workforce

#502

Post by itake » Tue, May 05, 2020, 11:26 PM UTC

ashtonkem wrote: post #259

supernova87a wrote: post #249

If Airbnb is willing to pay 14 weeks (3.25 months) of severance, they must believe this is going to go on significantly longer than that. Or they're using this as an opportunity to cut underperformers at the same time. Because if they believed things would start to recover by fall, wouldn't you just pay the people as normal and make a judgement call around then? You're spending the payroll money either way -- 14 week…

I personally suspect that travel related industries will be one of the last to recover, both due to consumer reticence and due to lower levels of disposable income during the recovery.

Also, companies are realizing that maybe they don't need to spend thousands of dollars for last minute business trips if they can just do a zoom meeting instead.

Re: Citing revenue declines, Airbnb cuts 25% of workforce

#503

Post by battery_cowboy » Tue, May 05, 2020, 11:26 PM UTC

supernova87a wrote: post #249

If Airbnb is willing to pay 14 weeks (3.25 months) of severance, they must believe this is going to go on significantly longer than that. Or they're using this as an opportunity to cut underperformers at the same time. Because if they believed things would start to recover by fall, wouldn't you just pay the people as normal and make a judgement call around then? You're spending the payroll money either way -- 14 week…

The optimist in me wants to think that the executive team realized they had about 4 or 5 months before they had to lay off these folks, so they decided to give them a few months of time to look for work and be with their families since there wasn't that much work to do anyways. Maybe if they do this, then in a few years when the economy recovered those ex employees would want to return to Airbnb.

Either way, it's a good package, since most people are getting zilch at other places.

Re: Citing revenue declines, Airbnb cuts 25% of workforce

#504

Post by aaronbrethorst » Tue, May 05, 2020, 11:28 PM UTC

jdminhbg wrote: post #309

ashtonkem wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally suspect that travel related industries will be one of the last to recover, both due to consumer reticence and due to lower levels of disposable income during the recovery.

> lower levels of disposable income during the recovery. There's also going to be a lot of pent-up demand from people who didn't lose jobs and had no outlet for leisure spending during the quarantine. I'm not sure which will win out.

With the United States heading for unemployment numbers estimated to be as high as 15%-20%, I find it hard to believe that people who are still employed are going to be ramping up their discretionary spending.

Just because you still have a job in May doesn't mean you'll still have one in August.

Re: Citing revenue declines, Airbnb cuts 25% of workforce

#505

Post by whymauri » Tue, May 05, 2020, 11:28 PM UTC

tenpies wrote: post #469

jdminhbg wrote: post #433

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But the pandemic ends eventually, one way or another. The question is what happens at that point: bacchanal or hermitage.

I also find it really interesting that no one seems interested in pricing in a second wave of any size. It doesn't even have to be global, just a regional second wave in a tourist hot spot could crush tourism globally.

J.P. Morgan's timeline has a forecasted second wave during mid-late winter 2020-2021. [0]

[0] https://www.morganstanley.com/ideas/coronavirus-peak-recover...

Re: Citing revenue declines, Airbnb cuts 25% of workforce

#506

Post by karthikb » Tue, May 05, 2020, 11:31 PM UTC

toshk wrote: post #304

ashtonkem wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally suspect that travel related industries will be one of the last to recover, both due to consumer reticence and due to lower levels of disposable income during the recovery.

Maybe but Im guessing there will be 1 to 3 months flights are open in summer and there will be lots of crazy partying and spending. (in Europe)

I'm not so sure. Airlines have sent huge numbers of their aircraft to the desert for storage, so quickly spinning up flight supply and then spinning that back down will be expensive.

Re: Citing revenue declines, Airbnb cuts 25% of workforce

#507

Post by itake » Tue, May 05, 2020, 11:31 PM UTC

atomic77 wrote: post #392

drstewart wrote: post #384

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's pretty bold to claim any and all price drops are directly attributable to Airbnb when in the middle of a recession causing pandemic that is heavily impacting normal housing/rental market activity.

I admit that both my observations, and the ones in the Wired article I cited, are anecdotal. And it's certainly not the only factor driving those rent decreases. But it's oddly coincidental that the biggest and most immediate price drops seem to be concentrated in the areas that had the most Airbnb listings, at least based on what i've looked at in Toronto.

In LA, there are a lot of airbnb properties being listed for mid to long term housing on FB housing groups.

I also saw a lot of student rooms available.

Re: Citing revenue declines, Airbnb cuts 25% of workforce

#508

Post by brewdad » Tue, May 05, 2020, 11:34 PM UTC

lonelappde wrote: post #472

tlrobinson wrote: post #410

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe it's just the full cost of the plan you were already on, the sum of what you and your employer were paying for it. So it can be expensive if your employer was paying a lot for it.

It can seem expensive if you ignored the compensation your employer was paying while you were employed.

I think I've only had one job where the employer funded $ amount of my health plan was actually spelled out. My expected contribution was always made known at enrollment time but the employer contribution was left to blind speculation.

Re: Citing revenue declines, Airbnb cuts 25% of workforce

#509

Post by bradleyjg » Tue, May 05, 2020, 11:36 PM UTC

H8crilA wrote: post #463

jzl wrote: post #409

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean if you're still an employee? I've read their RSUs have 7y expiration, which is part of the whole Airbnb IPO problem because the ones from 2014 will start expiring next year. But what's the window to exercise once you leave the company? I doubt it's until expiration.

Forgive my ignorance but how do RSUs expire? I thought those are just stocks?

If these are double trigger RSUs they don’t fully vest until two conditions are met:

1) the usual employed by the company for a certain period of time

2) some qualifying liquidity event (ipo / sale)

This is to avoid employees needing to pay taxes after #1 even though the stock can’t be sold. However for tax reasons there has to be time limit when they either vest or expire worthless. Depends on which lawyer you ask how long that can be, but generally most are less than ten years.

Re: Citing revenue declines, Airbnb cuts 25% of workforce

#510

Post by zrail » Tue, May 05, 2020, 11:36 PM UTC

ransom1538 wrote: post #462

dominotw wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I found COBRA to be extremely expensive. I instead enrolled in obamacare via job loss exception.

"Beneficiaries then have 60 days to inform the administrator whether or not they want to continue insurance coverage through COBRA." If you are paying for COBRA you are doing it wrong. You take those 60 days to find private insurance. You basically get 2 free months of health insurance since you cancel on that 60 day mark and never pay. If on day 58 you need health insurance you pay COBRA. Otherwise - your new privat…

> Yes! You could have history of heart attacks and not find cheaper private insurance but I am hoping that isn't you!

Major medical health insurance in the United States for the individual and small business markets has had community rating since 2008. That means health insurers are not able to take health history into account when setting rates. They can only set rates based on age and tobacco usage.